Chapter 29: CH 28

“Are you out of your mind?”

Hearing his low voice like that after he let out a deep sigh made Reina realize just how upset he was.

“What on earth were you thinking while doing such a thing?”

The recipient of these words, Reina, closed her lips tightly with her gaze lowered.

“If you’re to catch the epidemic, do you know that even if Marquis Bohr himself comes forward and pours out divine power to heal you, you wouldn’t be healed easily? That’s why I told you to stay quarantined.”

She knew she shouldn’t be thinking about this while she was being scolded, but she found out for the first time ever that Ethan was capable of being so talkative.

“It’s an endemic disease that money can’t fix. It’s an infectious disease that wouldn’t get better even if His Majesty the Emperor comes forward! …(omitted)… The blessings of the nine major households wouldn’t work either, so you, as a young lady of House Chantra, must know that…!”

Yep. He’s really talkative, huh. Plus, he’s kinda getting carried away in his anger. Was Ethan originally the kind of guy who’d give such a colorful verbal onslaught like this?

“…(omitted)… Infectious diseases are different from ordinary illnesses. But it’s not enough that you snuck out, you even went ahead to inject the pus of an epidemic-ridden cow right into your skin…!”

Not even taking a few breaths in between, he went on his tirade that went like dadada without a single pause, but as he glanced down at the woman quietly sitting in front of him with her head down, he lowered his rising voice.

“Haa… Reina.”

Calling her name, Ethan pressed the middle of his forehead as he pressed down on his boiling anger. On the other hand, Reina pretended to be depressed and pouted her lips.

“Yeees…”

“I couldn’t say everything I wanted to say even if I had two mouths, but it’s no good for you to stay mum like this.”

“……”

What was he saying? He didn’t even give her time to talk.

“Just give me an excuse.”

But if she were to say, ‘You’ve been scolding me and letting out your anger for the better part of the past hour, so how could I have possibly made any excuses?’ —she had a hunch that the sermon would last until tomorrow.

So, she raised the white flag first.

“I was too hasty. I admit my faults. I’m sorry for surprising you like that, Ethan.”

Even so, despite her heartfelt apology, her expression showed no sign of repentance.

While feeling nervous, she tried to push harder.

“But Ethan… I know it sounds absurd, but can you please hear me out?”

“……”

“It’s definitely not what you think. I did that under my own conviction.”

Though he’s been scolding her all this time, Ethan had been pouring healing power towards her. She took his hand lightly.

“The people’s illness… I know it’s called Bharan’s—the god of death’s—seed, but it’s also true that the Imperial Family also knows that it isn’t a ‘curse of God’.”

Superstition still prevailed even in this world.

However, as epidemics became more frequent, the imperial family sought to grasp the situation.

And finally.

Even though they didn’t have any clue about the cause of the illnesses, finally, there began a separation of disease from religion.

However, such an explanation had yet to reach the masses, who believed that the reason that people had two eyes, one nose and one mouth was because it matched God’s likeness.

‘But Ethan is the last person who’d ever accept superstitions just as they are… So if I do well in explaining this, I might be able to make him understand.’

At least, that’s the kind of person he knew he was from what she had seen of him thus far.

“…Alright, I’ll listen a little more.”

Fortunately, he was open to listening to Reina. His voice carried only an angry tone for all this time, but it softened a little this time.

‘I really have to explain it well. Otherwise, we’d just be back to square one.’

After thinking for a while about what to say, Reina licked her lips with her tongue and soon spoke.

“Ethan. If you put sugar in water, the sugar won’t just disappear, right?”

It was an out of the blue beginning. Reina, too, was aware.

However, rather than explaining the process in the order of one to ten, sometimes it’s more effective to change the order and mix it up with a few metaphors here and there.

“But people who look at the sugar water mixture with only their eyes wouldn’t think it has sugar in it. Because it’ll look invisible.”

“……”

“There are things that are invisible to the naked eye, but still definitely exist in this world, Ethan.”

Invisible things.

At the same moment as she said that, emotions that didn’t match Ethan at all appeared very slightly on his expression. Reina couldn’t understand what this expression meant exactly, but she couldn’t stop explaining here to try and pinpoint it.

“It’s the same with things that cause people’s illnesses. You can’t even guess what it is at all because it’s so small that it’s not visible, and it’s something called a pathogen… Well, that is to say, it’s something very small. And it causes people to be ill.”

Apart from her desperation, of course, there was no certainty that Ethan would follow her explanation properly. And regardless of following her statements, she didn’t know if he’d even believe what she was saying.

With her eyes spinning frantically while she squeezed out her explanations for a long time, she then carefully examined the other person’s expression.

But then.

“Ethan?”

His expression was… strange.

“What’s wrong?”

Perhaps not fully aware that a question was directed at him, he seemed to be lost in deep thought while his eyes were wide open.

He looked to be at a loss. No, it looked like he was entirely disheveled with that expression, and Reina couldn’t believe he was showing such a face for the first time. For a moment, a chill fluttered at one side of her chest.

‘Oh gosh… I think I did something wrong.’

A belated sense of concern rushed through her.

Regardless of how much the empire had already grasped the true source of diseases and how to end them, humans had lived under the shadow of God for thousands of years. Besides that, there was even a belief that the emperor and his kin were descendants of God.

So, no matter how enlightened Ethan might be, he was also just a human being who inevitably grew up in this world with that kind of milieu. For a moment, Reina forgot about this fact.

‘Ah… I’m not going to be arrested for blasphemy, am I?’